Trading season has begun

Interesting to see that while the Giants continue to preach their new philosophy, the A’s very quietly began their summer sale Monday. Jason Kendall should be an excellent addition to the Cubs. He doesn’t need to hit much in that lineup, but just a change of scenery and home ballparks should turn him from a .220 hitter into a .250 one, and if the Cubs get that out of him, great. All he’ll need to do is bring along young Cubs pitchers Rich Hill and Sean Marshall and coax even greater dominance out of ace Carlos Zambrano. Certainly seems doable.

A’s general manager Billy Beane said the trade should not viewed as a signal the A’s have given up on 2007, but let’s face it. Only the biggest miracle this side of the 1914 Boston Braves brings a playoff spot this year. I’d imagine Beane is looking forward to restocking and retooling. He has told me several times that is one of his favorite parts of the job. And he’s always proven excellent at it; his acquisition of Dan Haren from St. Louis two winters ago kept the rotation afloat and made the A’s run at the 2006 ALCS possible.

Kurt Suzuki gets the catching reigns now for the A’s, and though he looked like the second coming of Ramon Hernandez with the bat when he first arrived, he’s cooled off considerably since. He’s in an 0-for-12 rut since July 1, he was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. Very Kendall-like.

rhurd

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True, Suzuki is hitting Kendallish, but so is everybody else on that team right now. I’m just counting the days until we clear a space for Barton. If he’s half as good as his stats indicate lately, and the rest of the A’s don’t pull him into the team wide slump, he ought to be a blast to watch. Unfortunately, I think that it means that Dan Johnson will be an ex-Athletic soon.

proxl

I must have been spoiled over the past seven or eight years. But I cannot believe how much color has drained from the summer knowing my A’s are out of it for the year.